A Nature poll of more than 1,000 scientists revealed that 75% of them are considering leaving the United States due to the uncertainties caused by the Trump administration’s slashing of federal and university funding.
Since the second Trump term began, it has slashed research funding to universities and federal agencies purportedly in the name of efficiency, potentially hamstringing the country’s ability to move the needle on scientific discovery.
The recent poll indicates that the administration’s actions may also imperil the country’s standing as an oasis for scientists fleeing uncertain or outright hostile attitudes abroad—consider Nobel Prize winners Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Enrico Fermi, among many other scientists who flocked to the United States as fascist governments rose across Europe in the early 20th century. As the recent poll shows, the chilling effect may cause a brain drain as researchers across fields seek greener pastures elsewhere.
According to Nature, the numbers looking to leave were even higher among researchers early in their career, such as PhD students and postgraduate researchers. As the poll shows, 548 of 690 (79.4%) of postdocs are thinking about leaving, and 255 of 340 (75%) are weighing the decision. “Europe and Canada were among the top choices for relocation,” Nature says.
Many researchers who spoke to Nature indicated that they did not want to leave the U.S., but the administration’s attitudes made it clear that there would be better opportunities to conduct scientific research abroad.
Earlier this month, France’s Aix Marseille University said that several dozen scientists in the U.S. had responded to a call it put out offering safe harbor to Americans seeking to leave the country. The researchers who expressed interest were from institutions including Stanford, Yale, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, among others.
The second Trump administration has science objectives firmly in its crosshairs. Since January, the administration has reportedly laid off thousands of federal workers at agencies including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Park Service (NPS), and cut funding across a wider swath of institutions and programs.
Assuming best intentions—just as a thought experiment, so suspend your disbelief—the administration is attempting to streamline the government by reducing wasteful spending, making U.S. agencies and institutions as efficient as possible in their pursuit of discovery.
You can now relieve yourself of those optimistic musings. The government’s directives have wreaked havoc on the efficiency of these institutions, according to experts who spoke to Gizmodo, and risk undoing years of progress at home and abroad.
But some of the cuts are also done in line with Project 2025, a conservative movement that seeks to aggressively cut back on environmental protections in the name of liberty and personal freedoms. So while some of the layoffs are purportedly driven by the bottom line, they are also in lockstep with the ideological framework of the administration.
This month, the Trump administration is considering cutting funding to domestic HIV prevention efforts—walking back the frankly credible agenda Trump outlined in his first term to combat HIV, with a goal of eradicating the virus domestically by 2030. It’s not clear who on HIV’s side has sway with the Trump administration, but they evidently have infectious appeal.
The funding changes are happening in lockstep with cultural shifts urged by the administration, especially through the White House’s eagerness to dismantle programs and language advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), which has become a lightning rod in conservative circles as a boogeyman representing the “woke” agenda.
Last week, NASA Watch first reported that NASA’s “DEI Sanitation Squad” had removed graphic novels from the agency website that told the fictional story of the first woman to walk on the Moon. No woman has ever walked on the Moon, though the Artemis missions will change that—though it’s now less clear if that’s an agency priority.
If the United States wants to retain its stature as a bastion of scientific discovery, it must show the bright and budding minds stateside that there is opportunity for them to build their careers and become leaders in their fields. Over the last few months, the Trump administration has dispelled them of that notion, and it looks like it will continue with its agenda, full steam ahead.
